Being a priest is not just learning a set of truths about the faith, reading the catechism, being able to teach theology or even a skill set, said Father John Floeder. “It’s really trying to have ourselves as a man, as an individual, conformed and configured to the person of Jesus Christ,” he said.
Father Floeder, director of the propaedeutic year and director of human formation at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to describe what’s involved with the seminary’s first year for seminarians and its value for the men.
Now in its second year as a required preparatory year, the propaedeutic year is meant to be a time when the men “can step out of the rush of life and before they get onto what can sometimes feel like a conveyor belt of academic work,” Father Floeder said. The year is designed to give them space and time he said, to do “the deep human and spiritual work that will prepare them, and lay a solid base on which they can build in their coming studies, in their coming prayer, and, ultimately, in their coming fruitful ministry as priests.”
One way the propaedeutic year gives the men that needed time is a required “media fast” — through mid-May, the men have no access to “screens or electronic devices, computers, the internet,” Father Floeder said, except for one day a week. No media, no Facebook, no YouTube, no movies, “nothing except things that we choose to do deliberately together,” he said, which gives them freedom, time and space to step back, reflect and be “forced to deal with those things that come bubbling up in their heart.”
“We are there to accompany them, to help them relate all of that in their walk with the Lord,” he said.
Father Floeder described himself as “kind of the dad of the house and the spiritual father” who leads them in prayer each day. “It’s a full, enriched life, but with unscheduled time that allows the men to get a healthy balance of exercise, work, prayer, reading … and space to be able to do that deep work,” he said.
Community life is “life giving” for the men, Father Floeder said, with others “striving for the same thing, striving for the Lord and, ultimately, striving for priesthood.”
The men also have time to do “apostolic work,” Father Floeder said, which has involved working with local Latino youth.
To learn more about how the men spend their time in their propaedeutic year, listen to the full interview 9 p.m. Sept. 16 during the “Practicing Catholic” show, which repeats 1 p.m. Sept. 17 and 2 p.m. Sept. 18 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who provides an update on the Archdiocesan Synod as he prepares to issue his pastoral letter, and Emily Albrecht from the Equal Rights Institute and former co-president of “Oles for Life” at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, who offers tips and tricks for responding to pro-choice arguments with love.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
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